Season 4 Alternate ending
by gwenwifar
Summary: Rewrite of the last scene, at the penthouse balcony.


Chloe could not believe that after all this time, after all the times they almost found each other, he was standing in front of her, telling her he loved her, and that he had to leave. Forever. Hell, no. Not like this. Not right now. She had worked too hard to find her way to him to just let him go like this.

Finding solutions to hard problems was literally her job. She could do this. And with a little more time, she knew she could find a way to keep Lucifer out of Hell. Or at least find a way he wouldn't have to stay there forever. But if she knew Lucifer, she knew that now that he had decided to be selfless, it wasn't going to be that easy to change his mind. So, she nodded her head like a ninny and reached for a plan.

"Lucifer…" for starters she had to keep him on this balcony long enough for her to work it out

"Lucifer, wait. Let's think about this."

"There is nothing to think about Chloe. I must go back."

Chloe turned away for a second, took a deep breath and then dropped the ninny act to say:

"Lucifer, I need a favor."

"A favor? Chloe, you know that won't work, surely."

She gave him a determined smile.

"Come on, Lucifer. Favors are what you do. Aren't you at least curious? Are you really going to leave forever without knowing what I need? All that time on your hands to wonder what I wanted from you… what I might be willing to give you in return."

Chloe leaned in closer, her voice grew deeper.

"You can always say no, if that's what you want."

She slowly lifted her eyes to meet his, made sure he'd feel her warm breath on his skin. His body shivered, his pupils dilated. His breath hitched as he asked her.

"What do you de… " he hesitated, not sure if he could say the word without losing himself.

"What do you want, Chloe?"

"24 hours." She hoped she sounded as determined as she felt. "I want you to stay 24 hours."

"Chloe…" he started to interrupt her, but she was not going to let him get away with that.

She placed her index finger over his lips and kept talking.

"24 hours for us to work together to find another way. And in return…"

She let her finger trace his lip casually as she held his gaze, so he could see that she meant every word.

"In return, if you do go, when I find another way, _and I will_, I won't go to Hell after you."

She saw the way the lust in his eyes was replaced by horror. The love was still there, and she held on to it.

For a moment she felt guilty for using his love against him like this, but now was not the time. She needed him to take the deal.

"But you wouldn't! You couldn't! You're not Hell material, Chloe."

She turned away.

"Really, Lucifer, you know it doesn't work that way. Goody two-shoes like me? How hard would it be? I still feel guilty for snapping at Ella once, what would I have to do to feel guilty enough for Hell? Kick a puppy? Let a random stray bullet kill a nasty suspect? Endanger Trixie's happiness for my own selfish reasons? I'd be on my way within 10 minutes of having a plan to bring you back."

She turned to face him, wanting him to see the guilt she was feeling now, for what she was doing to him.

"You can't…" he looked deep into her eyes and sighed.

"What am I saying? You can, and you would."

He sounded exasperated now, angry. Chloe remembered how he hated being manipulated and the guilt in her eyes grew deeper.

"How do you suppose you would find me, Detective? How would you even get out of your guilt loop long enough to go looking for me? And you'd have to be dead up here, did you think of that?"

For a moment she thought she saw his eyes flash red as he insisted:

"What if you got stuck down there and they couldn't bring you back?"

Chloe swallowed her own doubts, raised her chin higher and held his gaze without flinching.

"Do we have a deal, Lucifer? 24 hours of your time in return for my promise not to follow you to Hell?"

He read the determination in her face and stepped back, stiffly.

"We have a deal, Detective."

She wanted to hug him, hope and determination shining from her eyes, but he turned away from her. He looked out over the lights of the city, his shoulders squared and his voice hard and distant.

"24 hours, Detective. Tick tock."


End file.
